1.The levee is expected to fail. I know that sounds bad, and it is. FEMA is apparently planning to update flood assessments this summer and redraw flood maps for Palm Beach and Martin counties. These flood maps are expected to be drawn as if the levee around Lake Okeechobee didn’t exist. In other words, they are not counting on the levees to protect against flooding.

2. The Herbert Hoover Dike is in the highest failure category of the Army Corps risk scale. Current efforts are being directed at reducing the risk category, but as it stands (and even after millions of dollars worth of improvements) the levee protecting the area still carries the highest risk classification (DSAC 1) of any dam in the United States.

3. There is no emergency spillway, nor is one planned to be built. There is no good, controlled way to drain off excess water from the lake should a large amount of rain fall in a short amount of time. Lake Okeechobee fills six times faster than it can be drained, and a foot of rainfall would result in 3 to 4 feet of water rise in the lake. Current levees will start to fail when the lake rises above 18.5 feet above mean sea level (it’s at roughly 14 feet currently), and significant levee problems are almost certain to occur when the lake reaches 20 feet over MSL.

HERBERT HOOVER DIKE REHABILITATION STRUCTURE REPLACEMENT
Solicitation No. W912EP-15-R-0013
LOCATION: Multiple Cities, FL (Palm Beach Co.)
ESTIMATED AMOUNT: $25,000,000 to $50,000,000
CONTRACTING METHOD: Competitive Public Bids
BIDS DUE: July 21, 2015 at 2:00 PM (To Owner)
No of Days: 1095
OWNER: US Army Corps of Engineers
701 San Marco Rd, Jacksonville, FL 32232-0019
(904)232-3735 FAX# (904)232-2748
Contact: Tedra Nicole Thompson Phone#:(904)232-2016
USE: Federal – Demolition and removal of the existing Herbert Hoover Dike Culvert 10A and the construction of a new outlet work S-271 at the same location of the existing Culvert 10A. The demolition and reconstruction efforts will be performed in the dry requiring the installation of an earthen cofferdam within Lake Okeechobee and a steel sheep pile (SSP) cofferdam on the landside at the L-8 canal in order to dewater the construction site. To maintain flows between Lake Okeechobee and the L-8 canal, a steel sheet pile canal will be constructed to divert flow from the L-8 canal to a three barrel bypass culvert. The bypass culvert will be constructed with 10-foot diameter HDPE pipe and will be operated during the construction of the new outlet works. The bypass culvert will have a sheet pile headwall on the landside and steel pile supported gates on the lakeside. The new outlet works structure will include cast-in-place reinforced concrete headwalls (lakeside and landside), conduit and endwalls. Combination flap/slide gates will be installed in each bay of the lakeside headwall. The outlet works will consist of four (4) barrels that vary in geometry from 10-foot square at the headwalls to 7-foot high by 13.5-foot wide rectangles through the embankment. The reconstructed embankment will feature a cutoff wall, and impervious core, a vertical chimney drain, and a horizontal drain and filter. The reconstructed embankment will match the existing crest elevation of the dike at the site. Riprap will be installed along the lakeside embankment face for erosion protection. A steel sheet pile groin structure will be installed on the lakeside to reduce sedimentation in the entrance canal. A control building will be installed on the landside work platform. Work also includes the demolition and removal of two existing residential structures at the project site and clearing an electrical corridor.
DIVISION:
Div1 general requirements
Div2 existing conditions, demolition, engineering control of asbestos containing materials
Div3 concrete, structural cast-in-place concrete forming, concrete accessories, concrete reinforcing, cast-in-place concrete, concrete finishing, concrete curing
Div5 metals, metal fabrications
Div8 openings, stainless-steel doors and frames, door hardware, louvers
Div9 finishes, painting
Div13 special construction
Div25 integrated automation, integrated automation instrumentation and terminal devices for facility equipment
Div26 electrical, facility lightning protection, interior lighting, exterior lighting
Div31 earthwork, erosion controls, steel piles, timber piles
Div32 exterior improvements, asphalt paving, sodding
Div33 storm drainage utilities, concrete culverts
Div35 waterway and marine construction
Div40 instrumentation and control for process systems

Herbert Hoover Dike (HHD) is a 143-mile earthen dam that surrounds Lake Okeechobee, the heart of the Kissimmee-Okeechobee-Everglades system. The original dike was constructed with gravel, rock, limestone, sand, and shell. The project reduces impacts from flooding as a result of high lake levels for a large area of south Florida.

Since 2007, the Corps has made a significant investment, over $300 million, in projects designed to reduce the risk of catastrophic failure of the aging structure. Actions taken include installing a cutoff wall, removing and replacing water control structures (culverts), and conducting a variety of studies and technical reviews to help ensure the safety of south Florida residents. Corps teams work daily on the dike, providing contractor oversight, quality assurance, inspections, and dike operations and maintenance. Much progress is also being made behind the scenes at the District, where a team of engineers, hydrologists, geologists, scientists, contract and real estate specialists, budget analysts, and many others, work to ensure the very best rehabilitation strategies are applied to the dike today and in the future.

Here is a site called Florida Bids. You see whats being bid on in your hood.

Florida International University’s International Hurricane Research Center lists Lake Okeechobee as the No. 2 threat of catastrophic flooding from a natural disaster, behind only New Orleans.

“The current condition of Herbert Hoover Dike poses a grave and imminent danger to the people and the environment of South Florida. In this, we join many other investigators, from grassroots engineers to eminent specialists, who for 20 years have warned that Herbert Hoover Dike needs to be fixed,” reads a South Florida Water Management District report from 2006. “We can add only that it needs to be fixed now, and it needs to be fixed right. We firmly believe that the region’s future depends on it.”

The report goes on to say that making the dike truly safe would likely cost more than the Army Corps of Engineers entire budget for projects across the nation, which was $4.7 billion in 2013. Billions of dollars in Everglades restoration could be lost in one event, which could also damage drinking water aquifers and cause irreversible harm to Everglades National Park and Big Cypress National Preserve.

It’s not just engineers and nearby residents who are concerned. Lloyd’s of London issued a firm warning to companies that insure homes and property in South Florida.